Hello!

I am fairly new to investing and just recently found Bigger Pockets. I’ve recently listened to a few pod casts and decided it was time to introduce myself and just put out to the universe where we are in our journey. I’m always open to feedback, networking (especially building a local network in the Tulsa Metro), and direction on any opportunities that may fit our current goals.

First Investment:

For years, my retirement goal has been to invest in multiple short-term rentals across the country. As I am quickly approaching my retirement eligibility, we decided it was time to get our feet wet. In October of last year we purchased our first STR. While very green, we felt we got a good deal. We are in love with our STR lake home and use it as our personal vacation home when it is not rented. One year in and we are cash-flow negative for the year. My husband and I have had a number of discussions on whether we should stick it out as a buy and hold, or cut our losses, sell, and reinvest in a better market. The idea of selling was heartbreaking, but from a business standpoint we had to consider the reality. We decided to explore a refi and had the home appraised last week. We were pleasantly surprised to find the home appraised at $90K over our total project cost (42% appreciation). The market will only continue to grow in the next few years due to a large tourist attraction under construction in the area; therefore, we have decided to hold and accept any negative cash flow as the cost of our personal vacation home.

Current Goals

For our next project(s) we are in the market for two “house hacks” in the Tulsa Metro. While we know it won’t be the greatest investment strategy, we have decided to combine our investment goals with giving our oldest sons a leg up. We would like to co-sign with each of them on a home, they will pay their share of the mortgage and we will rent the other units/rooms with one of us buying out the other within 5 years. The oldest is a law student so a multi-family or a 3-4 bedroom home would work well as we could rent out rooms to other law students. For our second, we are looking for a multi-family property so he and his finance can live in one unit and we can rent out the other unit(s).

While we are set on this next step, my concern is the difficulty in finding a positive cash flow property with only putting 5% down on each home.

Long Term Goals:

While I'm still interested in the STR market, our long-term goals have shifted towards purchasing a few mid-term rentals in the Tulsa Metro area. We hope to purchase one or two homes a year going forward!